Mystical Leanings

Windows has always had a problem with what is known as DLL Hell until Vista that is.  Applications frequently utilise a piece of functionality shared by multiple applications in a common application support file called a DLL.  DLL Hell arises when some bright spark changes the common support file in such a way that it no longer supports the functionality the application requires and so the application breaks.  There are a number of possible solutions to this but until Vista the only really safe one was to basically not use shared functionality at all.  Enter the junior programmer who says I know how to fix this problem, lets keep a copy of all shared files in a special folder which we will call Winsxs (windows side by side) and that way if anyone does update a shared file it doesn’t matter if they change something in a way that breaks other programs because the original copy can still be found in the winsxs folder and the other applications will continue to work.  So what is the problem with this I here you ask?  Simple, if you just mindlessly keep a copy of every version ever then over a period of time the winsxs folder will just grow and grow and eventually you will run out of disk space for sure and then Vista will just stop working for you.

But, you say, surely Microsoft thought of this and provided the necessary functionality to remove versions that are no longer being used and that I’m afraid is where you would be wrong, there is absolutely nothing and in the 2 years since Vista was launched no solution either just read the following Microsoft Technet discussion thread for more:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itprovistaannouncements/thread/9411dbaa-69ac-43a1-8915-749670cec8c3/#page:1

This is just such a dumb error (and for those of us who write software it is one we have all probably made, like writing stuff to a log file without capping the size of the log file for instance) that I can only conclude a junior programmer wrote it and nobody senior reviewed his/her design.  Apparently this will be fixed in Windows 7 and providing all Windows Vista  users get a FREE upgrade I guess nobody should complain (unless of course they have already run out of disc space).  All in all Vista is in my opinion a disgrace as an operating system that is only bested for awfulness by Windows ME.  Maybe Windows 7 will indeed fix all the issues with Vista but I am not holding my breath.

Just in case you are wondering why I am writing this, it is because the winsxs folder on my laptop is using 8.6 GB of space leaving me with only 1.6GB of free space and I can do absolutely nothing about it, how crap is that?

The latest terrorists atrocities in Mumbai, India are horrific and for the families who have lost loved ones you cannot feel anything but sorrow at their loss.  Is this ever going to end, are we ever going to stop the mindless slaughter of innocents in the name of God or gods or political theories or money or power or worst of all revenge?  The war on terror as conducted by the west simply adds fuel to the fire and perpetuates the very thing it seeks to eradicate.  Humans will never defeat violence with more violence, it stands to reason doesn’t it? Two wrongs don’t make a right and all that.

Cards on the table time. I have recently been investigating global conspiracy theories and have come to believe that 11/09/2001 (USA), 11/03/2004 (Spain), 07/07/2005 (UK) have been deliberately planned and executed not by Governments (although definitely with the complicity of certain members of Government) but by global organisations that transcend (and indirectly control) Governments to further their agenda which seems to be the creation of a global totalitarian state.  The end result of the terrorist atrocities mentioned was to provide an incentive to invade Afghanistan on 07/10/2001 and Iraq on 20/03/2003.

You have to wonder whether these attacks in Mumbai on 26/11/2008 will now lead to an invasion of Pakistan especially given the number of cross border skirmishes already conducted by US troops in Afghanistan. For a while it seemed that Iran was the next target but it seems that the powers have failed to create sufficient worldwide condemnation of the Iranians to be able to justify an attack so maybe it has been put on hold for a while.

Maybe this is taking the conspiracy theory stuff a step too far but then again, maybe not, time will tell.

Being seriously concerned about the reports that the Government was considering the creation of a central database that would be used to record all internet traffic, emails and voice over IP communications I contacted my MP (the current home secretary Jacqui Smith) to let her know what I thought using the fantastic site Write To Them on 16th July 2008 as follows:

Dear Jacqui Smith,
Once again I am dismayed by your continued attack on the basic human
rights and civil liberties in this country in the name of unachievable
security.  Here I am referring to the Interception Modernisation
Programme which just beggars belief, who on Earth wants this level of
intrusion into their privacy and right to free speech?
I did not vote for you and I most certainly did not give you authority
to do this!
Yours sincerely,
Andrew A Maggs

Jacqui replied by snail mail on 25th July 2008 see below (this letter was quite difficult to scan – I wonder if that is done on purpose):

The URL referred to in the letter is www.official-documents.gov.uk/documents/cm73/7324/7324.pdf and if you read this you will quickly realize that the report authors were far more concerned with not doing anything that could compromise the existing rights of the security services to conduct surveillance than it is to do with the rights of the ordinary citizen (I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised by that).  Anyway the bottom line was that Jacqui’s reply did not deal with my primary concern, so I wrote back on 3rd August 2008 as follows:

Dear Jacqui Smith,
Your Reference: MAGG001/081436
Thank you for your letter dated 25th July 2008 and for the link to the
public version of the Chilcot Report which I read with interest.
As a reasonably informed citizen of this country I am well aware (or
should I say I believe) that the law enforcement and security agencies
routinely conduct interception of communications on citizens suspected
of serious crime and/or terrorism and I have no real objection to this
providing that they are required (as now) to obtain a warrant from a
suitably authorised person.  I also have no particular objection to any
of the evidence gained through that interception being used in court in
prosecutions against those citizens providing that the safeguards
identified in the report are adopted.
My original email was in response to a suggestion that the Government
was considering requiring all UK based CSP’s to divert a copy of ALL
communications for ALL citizens using those CSP’s to a central database
for mining by interested parties in the fight against serious organised
crime and terrorism. Such a requirement would be the grossest invasion
of privacy and civil liberties any Government has ever inflicted on the
people of this country.  Can you please confirm that neither you nor
the Government has any such intention and that there will always be a
requirement for a warrant to be issued before any communication
interception can take place?  If you can then I will withdraw my
objection to the IMP otherwise I will have no choice but to remain an
opponent to it and any person supporting it on the grounds of
principle.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew A Maggs
P.S. I am more than happy to receive any reply by email.

Again, Jacqui replied by snail mail on 22nd August 2008 see below:

The bottom line of this as far as I understand it is that the Government does indeed intend to create such a database although they of course have to get the Communications Data Bill she refers to through parliament, so if like me you object to the ‘security at any cost’ principle please use Write To Them to tell your MP about your objections.

The madness of this paranoid Government continues unabated with the latest proposals introduced by the Interception Modernisation Programme which seeks to require all UK ISP’s to route all internet traffic (emails, browsing and VOIP telephone conversations) to a central database that can presumably be mined by any interested party with authority.

Will someone in Government please wake up and put a stop to this lunacy.  As far as I am concerned if this ever gets into law then civil disobedience must be the order of the day,  I didn’t vote for this crap and I will not stand idly by and watch this country become the next totalitarian state.  I am sure that if Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith had been politicians in the 1970’s they would have been approached by the security forces and made to resign and retire to Moscow because quite frankly the constant attacks on the beliefs and attitudes that once made this country great are in my opinion far more damaging to the country as a whole than the traitorous acts of the likes of the Cambridge Five!

And quite frankly the inmates deserve exactly what they are getting!!

I cannot believe that today the Government won the vote in the Commons (315 votes for to 306 votes against) to increase the detention without charge period for terror suspects from 28 to 42 days.  What a truly sad day for democracy, civil liberties and basic human rights.  What is even more amazing than the unprincipled politicians who run our country and so freely give away our freedoms is the  69% of the inmates (Telegraph Poll) who apparently want them to take it and all I can say to them is that I truly hope that they never have to pay the price for their shortsighted desire for unachievable security at any cost.  Our hope now is that the House Of Lords will continue to defend us from our own stupidity and will vote against this nonsense.

As for me, well I now feel honour bound to get more involved politically and actively work against this Government.

This bill received its second reading in Parliament on April 1st 2008 and I dismayed to discover that my representative in the House of Commons (the current Home Secretary is an avid supporter).  This bill proposes the following (and if not amended they will ultimately become law):

• A requirement for convicted terrorists to provide the police with personal information on their release from prison and to notify any changes to this information.
• Introduction of a foreign travel order that will enable convicted terrorists to be banned from travelling overseas;
• Changes to enable post charge questioning of terrorist suspects and the drawing of adverse inferences from a refusal to say something that is later relied on in court
• Enhanced sentences for those convicted of terrorist related offences
• Putting the police counter terrorist DNA database on a sound statutory footing and making other changes to enable the full use of DNA in terrorist cases
• Extension of pre-charge detention for terrorist suspects beyond the current limit of 28 days to 42 days.

(the source for the above is http://www.commonsleader.gov.uk/output/page2023.asp apart from the last point where the reference ends at 28 days but does not mention 42. See also http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2008-04-01a.647.1 for the parliamentary debate on the bill preceding it’s second reading).

There isn’t much to disagree with here except the last point which is a massive infringement of civil liberties and totally unnecessary.

As I have said before, we have lived through the era when bombings by the IRA on the English mainland  were frequent and in those days the police did not need such draconian powers to investigate the crimes so why do they need them now? The last bombings in England were nearly 3 years ago so clearly either the terrorism threat is nowhere near as severe as the Government would have us believe or the police already have sufficient powers to prevent terrorist attacks.

I am not (or at least have not until now been) a Conservative support, but the shadow home secretary David Davis made the following speech at the debate:

Where possible, the Conservative party will always strive for consensus on security matters. In this Bill, there is much that we can support, and we will work with the Government to improve and strengthen the Bill in those areas. However, there is a line that a free country cannot cross without convincing justification. I have always taken Benjamin Franklin’s view that

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety".

However, the proposal to extend detention without charge up to 42 days gives up essential liberties without delivering any additional, even temporary, safety. In fact, it is likely to make us less, not more, safe.

Last October, the Prime Minister said that

"the character of our country will be defined by how we write the next chapter of British liberty—by whether we do so responsibly and in a way that respects and builds on our traditions, and progressively adds to and enlarges rather then reduces the sphere of freedom."

The Prime Minister was right. Regrettably, some of what is proposed today does precisely the opposite.

The Bill contains many detailed provisions. We have called for some of the measures for years, such as post-charge questioning, and we welcome action at last in that area. There are measures that we can support in principle, such as making terrorism an aggravating factor in sentencing, notification requirements for those convicted of terrorist offences and travel restrictions on those convicted of terrorist offences. We may challenge the Government on other issues, depending on their case.

In her speech, the Home Secretary did not cover the proposal to appoint a coroner, to forbid the appointment of a jury and to hold an inquest in secret when terrorism is involved. Why can that not be achieved by having security-cleared coroners and juries similar to those used in secret espionage trials in the cold war? I want the Minister to answer that question when he replies to the debate.

And for this he gets my total respect, I just wish that more politicians saw the issues in this way.

Let us do what we can to prevent this extension getting into law by lobbying our MP’s although clearly as my MP is the Home Secretary and is apparently hell bent on selling all my civil liberties down the river I have something of an uphill struggle!

Not to be overly melodramatic, but it seems that this Government and various law enforcement and other tin-pot power hungry agencies are hell bent on taking away our freedom in the name of security, well to hell with that, I do NOT agree to trade my rights for protection from a largely mythical terrorist army.  I grew up in the time of the IRA when real lunatics planted real bombs and blew up real people.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the lunatics don’t exist at all, just that they are nowhere near as big a threat as we are led to believe.  What I don’t understand is why we used to be prepared to destroy the entire world in a nuclear Armageddon to defend exactly those freedoms that we are now giving away with a smile and a thank you!

Anyway, enough is enough, my line in the sand is this:

1. I will not voluntarily sign up for any National Identity card (I already have a passport and that is enough in my opinion).
2. I reserve the right to refuse to supply biometric data for any central database or any other purpose unless I have been properly arrested for breaking any legitimate law.
3. I reserve the right to travel to any part of this country without identifying myself when purchasing travel tickets.
4. I reserve the right to refuse to supply any justification whatsoever for my being present in any part of the country.
5. I reserve the right to photograph and publish to the Internet or any publication any scene or building.
6. I reserve the right to publish articles critical of Government policy.
7. I reserve the right to attend meetings or gatherings in protest of any policy seeking to curtail any of the rights I am reserving here.

I hope that I am just being paranoid and that things are not as bad as they seem to be but at the very least, it is time to wake up and make sure that we protect the freedoms we care so much about.

Most people hopefully will be aware of the Government’s intention to introduce National Identity cards and quite simply you have to ask why?  Many, my parents included, think that a National Identity card is a good thing and quite simply you have to ask why?  As individuals, what benefit do we get from the Government creating and keeping a central database of every single person in the United Kingdom? Given the recent fiasco of the loss by HM Revenue & Customs of the personal data of 25 million people receiving child benefit I don’t think the Government can be trusted to safely and securely hold our personal details do you?

So I ask again what benefit do we derive from this? Will crime be reduced? Will terrorism be reduced? Will we all become better people and care for each other more? Will there be fewer homeless people on the streets? Will there be fewer deaths on the roads? Will there be more beds in NHS hospitals?  I guess the first two are the ones the Government will cite as primary benefits but how?  Surely criminals and terrorists will just forge the NI card like they often do with other official documents such as passports!

Consider the nightmare scenario where somebody is able to forge your NI card and use it to borrow money or purchase goods in the classic identity fraud scam. What hope is there for you being able to deny any responsibility?

Personally I am opposed to the whole idea, we have managed quite well without it up to now even during the terrible times of the seventies IRA bombings, we simply do not need it.  If you agree with me then you should seriously consider standing up to be counted and support the NO2ID group and sign their pledge.

For a supposedly leaked document describing the ways the Government will attempt to coerce people into getting a NI card have a read of National Identity Scheme Option Analysis Outcome which has been annotated by the NO2ID folks.

I spent the entire day configuring 3 virtual machines in a virtual network as follows:

1. Domain Controller (DC)
2. SQL Server
3. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

After successfully building and configuring them all, I decided to shut them all down and back them up prior to installing content in SharePoint from the client’s live system.  Only trouble is on the Virtual Machine (VM) server I had a corrupt DC from a previous attempt and my DC VM was actually using the good Virtual Hard Drive’s (VHD’s) from an earlier backup.  I forgot this fact and proceeded to overwrite the good and working backup with the corrupt VHD’s – aaaaggggghhhhhhh!

After a few hours I recovered sufficient composure to continue living and was pleasantly surprised to discover that a new version of the Zune software had been released. At last I thought, it would fix the balls up it made of the media library, however, sadly I was mistaken and for some inexplicable reason the Zune seems to think that The Cure Seventeen Seconds is the same album as Hawkwind Church Of Hawkwind and no amount of deleting and recreating the library will make it change its mind.  This is totally bizarre because there is nothing in the ID3 tags (or any other tags for that matter) that even begin to mention Hawkwind in any of The Cure songs.  What gives, why is it doing this and how on Earth can I stop it?

All in all the day was pants and I am not a happy bunny.  Tomorrow will be better because I will be able to recreate the DC and everything will work again. Also, it is my 16th Anniversary (I can’t believe that we have been married that long) and Avril Lavigne will tell me that she has secretly fancied me for years 🙂

Roll on